Reoccurring Spring
by Verboten Byacolate
Summary: Her very essence radiates the sun, the breeze, and the enchanting flowers that line a weary path. He can't help but notice. [SesshomaruRin]


A/N; I can't believe I'm writing a Sesshomaru/Rin. I've always thought of them to be a father/daughter type. I guess it all comes with the sudden approval of KakaSaku D:

Disclaimer; Though I haven't written any InuYasha in a loooong time, I find I _still_ don't own anything. Drat!

**Reoccurring Spring**

He knew he was returning home when he saw the burst of moving color.

A small girl in a checkered orange kimono danced about the blooming flowers, a soft nonsense song trilling from her tongue. He would watch her move from rock to rock, and mused shortly on how well she blended with the blossoming earth around her.

"Rin," he would call after a short while, earning her full attention immediately. She smiled, her face bright and happy, and she ran to him.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" she cried gayly, planted firmly at his side. Rin was quick to let him examine the flowers she had picked. "For you!" she chirped, but kept them cradled to her chest. She knew that he didn't like to carry flowers. She also knew he appreciated the effort.

His long, slender fingers accidentally brushed against her shoulder and the soft material. A small part of him noted how utterly sharp his claws were, and discretely refreained from letting his hand anywhere near her fragile, completely _human_ body.

Her brown eyes flicked upward toward his face, and she grinned.

Spring had followed the harsh winter.

**- X -**

He had sent her to his brother's mate after she had begun to bleed. It had frightened her greatly, and Sesshomaru knew he had no one else to turn to for advice. The wench was sure to explain things to his charge, and help Rin in any way possible. When he walked away from the small band of warriors, he was almost halted by a sudden realization;

Rin was changing.

She was no longer little. Her checkered kimono now reached her thighs and elbows, attracting the undivided attention of several human boys, and even a few demons. He was constantly needed by her side, because Jaken and the Staff of Heads was no longer adequate. She had begun braiding her hair, finding the flyaway strands troublesome, yet not willing to cut it off. He wasn't even _about_ to get into her chest developments.

It was strange to know that she was no longer a small child, frightened of wolves and not demons, surrogate daughter to Jaken and himself, loving caretaker of Ah Un, innocent girl. She was becoming a woman.

He walked past the imp and the dragon, knowing subconsciously that they would follow, and decided on the future:

He would find Rin a new, suitable kimono.

He would teach her how to handle a katana.

He would go to that Kagome for any further advice of how to handle a young lady.

He would teach her himself on how to behave like a proper lady.

Of course, this would be the kind of "proper lady" his mother was, and all other female youkai that were in his family happened to be.

With a self-assured roll of the shoulders, the daiyoukai took off for the first item on his list.

**- X -**

He felt as if spring had come in the summer when he came back for her the next month. Her back was toward him, and she was squatting on the ground, humming an absent tune while scrawling something in the dirt with an arrow. A bow and quiver lay at her side, and he could see a few arrows stuck in a nearby tree.

"Rin."

When she turned, a large smile on her face, her eyes seeming to spark back to life, he felt something inside him stir.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" she squealed, leaping from her place on the ground and running to him. "I missed you!" she cried in rapture, wrapping her arms around his waist. He was surprised, and the new, violet kimono dropped from his arm. Never before had he been shown so much open affection, and never before had someone hugged him. It was odd, he decided, but not necessarily bad.

She stepped back, her eyes smiling up at him, and he only blinked back. It was not in his nature to smile, except when something _very bad_ was about to happen to someone _very unfortunate_. Rin didn't seem to mind.

"Kagome-san has taught me to use a bow and arrow!" Rin exclaimed with genuine excitement. She proudly showed him her newfound weapon, and happened to glance at the ground between them. Her head cocked to the side quizzically, and she bent over to pick up the purple cloth.

"For you," Sesshomaru said, turning is head. She remained silent for a long moment before giggling and hugging the material to her chest.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama," came her smiling voice, and she ran behind a tree to change clothing.

The Lord of the West ignored the feeling that entered his conscience at her happy singing.

**- X -**

When her sixteenth year came, he still had not become used to her monthly bleeding, but _had_ come to accept it. She was increasingly becoming better and better with the katana he had presented to her in her thirteenth year, and excelled at using a bow and arrow. She had once even slayed a youkai (albeit accidentally- she was practicing and had missed her target, and the arrow instead became lodged into the skull of some kind of weasel).

But even though she had become skilled in the art of battle, she also became more pleasing to the eye of man. Her proudly-worn violet kimono was only becoming shorter and shorter on her, turning the heads of many young men. What fascinated him was her obliviousness- it was as though she had never realized her power over the male species. Her braided hair reached down past her knees, and almost dragged along the ground, and did when it was let out. She would soon have to loop the braid just to keep it from getting in the dirt.

Sesshomaru always found himself holding his breath when they passed a boy or man along a road. He knew, bitter realization rearing its ugly head, that at any time she could leave him for one of them, and he could not stop her. He truly wanted only her happiness, but it was difficult to think about human boys and their mortality. Humans were so easily broken, and no human could ever adequately protect Rin.

The thought alone made him step closer to her.

And he knew, glancing at his fragile charge with soft fascination, that he could never _really_ let her go.

It would be like giving away the spring.

**- X -**

When she turned eighteen and strung a garland of cherry blossoms in her newly-cut hair, he knew he loved her. Her melodious laughter rang in his heart, a constant tune of pure joy, and her smiling eyes haunted his dreams. Her nonsense songs of old, all seeming to signal his return to her, meant more than she could imagine. He knew that she needed him, and he knew that he needed her. He knew that he would blink, and she'd be gone. Any day, she could catch an illness. Any day he could be gone, and she could be attacked. Any day, she could voluntarily go off with a human boy who would steal her heart. Any day.

That's why, the next time she plucked a lilly from its stem and declared it his, he took it from her. She was surprised, but it was a joyous astonishment.

That's why, the next time a youkai flew at her with malicious intent, he swept her away, his arm around her waist, and set her a good distance away, before reducing the demon to cinders.

That's why, one night, when the waxing moon was high overhead and the stars displayed their brilliant luster, and she sat beside him beneath the tree they were resting under, he bravely claimed her lips and soul as his.

And that's why he felt so relieved when she reciprocated every single thing.

**- X -**

She watched with quiet wonder as the small baby rested against her breast. The child's brilliant amber eyes didn't even flutter as Rin laid her against Ah Un, who wrapped his body around her. The woman smiled softly at the sight and turned to her faithful Jaken-sama.

Then, her eyes turned to the star-studded sky, where she could make out the silhouette of the great dog demon.

_Always watching over me. _

**- x - X -**_ let me be your _**FIN** _reoccurring spring_ **- X - x -**

**It was shower inspiration!! You know... inspiration one gets in the shower. I seem to get a lot of ideas in the shower. Like, if the evolution theory is correct, then, why do we still have monkeys? and, dear Lord, boobs are useless. Things like that. And ideas for fanfiction.**

**XD**

**Written while I was listening to **_**Next Contestant**_** by Nickelback.**

**Review!! YOSH!!**

**-Bya-chan**

**P.S.- Don't flame to tell me that I'm a sick person for writing this. I. Don't. Care. I can see where it would be a simply father/daughter relationship, **_**and**_** where it could be romantic. I support both. Get over yourselves. Thankee!**


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